CHARADEIID^ TOTANUS 391 



425 ; Sharpc, ed. Layard's B. 8. Afr. p. 688 (1884) ; Seebohm, Qeogr. 

 Bistr. Charadr. p. 353, with fig. (1888) ; Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiv, 

 p. 414 (1896) ; Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 191 (1896). 

 Totanus totanus, Beichenow, Vog. Afr. i, p. 220 (1900). 



Description. Adult in non-breeding plumage. — Above ashy- 

 brown, slightly streaked and mottled with darker brown ; median 

 and greater coverts notched with white ; primaries and primary 

 coverts black, some of the inner primaries variegated with white ; 

 secondaries white with blackish bases ; rump white ; upper tail- 

 coverts and tail white, narrowly barred with black ; below white, 

 sides of the face, lower neck and breast streaked ; flanks with 

 wavy bars of dusky. 



Iris dark brown ; bill dark brown ; feet yellow, web between the 

 middle and outer toe very small. 



Length about 10-5 ; wing 6*5 ; tail 2-3 ; culmen 1"8 ; tarsus 1'95. 



The breeding plumage is less uniform, being mottled and barred 

 with a good deal of reddish above and more thickly marked with 

 blackish below. 



Distribution. — The Eedshank breeds throughout the whole of 

 Europe and Central Asia to Persia and Mongolia ; during the 

 northern winter the greater number of these birds seek a more 

 congenial climate in India and throughout Tropical and South 

 Africa. The Eedshank is certainly a rare bird in South Africa, 

 probably only a few stragglers get so far south ; Layard shot 

 examples near Cape Town and at Knysna, and also found these 

 birds abundant at Zoetendals Vley in Bredasdorp in November, but 

 there is no other notice of their occurrence in Cape Colony. Eeid 

 saw a Eedshank at the mouth of the Umgeni Eiver in Natal in 

 December. The only other records are Lake Ngami (Chapman) 

 and Walvisch Bay (Andersson). 



Habits. — No observation on the habits of the Eedshank in 

 South Africa have been made hitherto. In England it is found 

 along the coasts in the winter months, and inland in marshy spots 

 in summer. Its flight is quick but rather wavering, and the white 

 on the wing shows very conspicuously. Aquatic insects, worms 

 and Crustacea form the food ; it dives when wounded, and can swim. 

 It is improbable that the Eedshank will ever be found breeding 

 within our limits. 



